Director's Report to the National Advisory Council on Drug Abuse - September, 2010

Extramural Policy and Review Activities

Receipt, Referral, and Review

NIDA received 1902 applications, including both primary and dual assignments, for which the Office of Extramural Affairs (OEA) managed the programmatic referral process during this Council cycle. Of these, NIDA received the primary assignment on 1167 applications.

NIDA has one standing chartered committee, NIDA-K, which reviews Career Development applications and Institutional Training Grant applications (T32). There were also 17 Special Emphasis Panels to review grant applications for a variety of reasons:

CTN Review Activities

The Data and Safety Monitoring Board met May 27, 2010 to discuss the final study report for protocol CTN 0032, HIV Rapid Testing and Counseling in Drug Abuse Treatment Programs in the U.S.

Certificates of Confidentiality

Between April 3, 2010 and August 4, 2010, OEA processed 103 Certificate of Confidentiality applications, including 17 amendments for either extension of expiration date or protocol change.

Staff Training and Development

The OEA Symposium Series, a forum for staff training and sharing of ideas and information, continued to provide open forums for discussions and presentations that included: an open forum on NIH Guide Notices about Vertebrate Animals sections in grant applications; clarification of policies on application resubmission and determination of new application status; expansion of the provisions of the e-SNAP process; an update on Center grant and program project grant application and review processes; a Freedom of Information Act presentation by Susan Cornell, FOIA Officer and Chief FOIA Liaison, NIH; and an overview of the Cutting-Edge Basic Research Awards (CEBRA) program presented by Dr. Susan Volman, DBNBR.